Fifth FLoor

At The Fifth Floor in San Francisco, bartender Brian Means takes Anchor Steam beer, combines it with sugar and cooks it down into a beer syrup, which is then used to enhance this savory whiskey drink. So this isn’t really a beer cocktail, but a strong, cocktail lover’s cocktail infused with a little taste of beer.

Hops & Dreams

Now that “handcrafted” cocktails have become about as commonplace as craft beer, bartenders and bloggers are looking for new ways to impress. You might think molecular mixology is gimmicky, but you gotta admit that these 8 cocktail spheres look pretty amazing.

1. Old Fashioned In the Rocks

At Grant Achatz’ Aviary in Chicago the old fashioned comes neat — very neat. Drinkers get to smash the sphere open and watch the drink explode out.

2. Spherical Pickleback

Just about every bar in Brooklyn now serves a pickleback (a shot of whiskey backed by a shot of pickle juice). Only Do or Dine—home of the foie gras donut—serves a molecular pickleback, whereby the back — the spherical ball of pickle juice — explodes inside your mouth.

I usually would not hesitate to declare that fish is the least drool-worthy protein, but I challenge you to find a bloody steak that is more photogenic than this San Francisco halibut with black olive crust, chorizo, corn milk, squash blossoms and sorrel emulsion from the Fifth Floor in SF. It’s part of chef David Bazirgan’s seasonal “Harvest By the Bay” menu, available this week only, through Oct 22nd.